Motorola launched a Moto Hint Bluetooth earbud final year, that provides a some-more singular operation of voice-based controls. It stays a niche product.

One consultant pronounced Sony’s device seemed a some-more “interesting attempt” to giveaway adult people’s hands and eyes, though combined there were still hurdles to overcome.

“To be appealing to vast numbers of users a voice estimate will need to be glorious and it will need to work with a far-reaching operation of apps and functions on a phone,” pronounced Martin Garner from a CCS Insight consultancy.

“Android smartphones already have a Google Now service, so what Sony has to do is work out how it can do something opposite around voice control,” he said.

“Then it has to make certain that it complements Google’s software. It’s identical to a plea that all Android handset have when they make their possess email, browser and camera apps – it formula in there being some-more than one proceed of doing a same thing on a device and that can upset consumers.”

New smartphones

Image copyrightSony

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The lowest-end phone is a usually one to have an edge-to-edge bezel-less screen, though it comes during a cost of usually being 720p fortitude rather than 1080p

The association also announced 3 smartphones as partial of a new Xperia X series, that underline opposite forms of processors and arrangement resolutions depending on their price.

All have adopted a new battery record grown by Qnovo, a Silicon Valley-based start-up.

“It scans a condition of a battery – sees a heat and a condition of use – to see a health level, and afterwards optimises a charging to not repairs a battery,” a Sony orator said.

That meant a batteries should final twice as prolonged before unwell to keep a decent charge, he added.

Image copyrightSony

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Sony has nonetheless to exhibit a cost of a new Xperia X handsets

This should interest to a flourishing numbers of consumers who go dual years or some-more between upgrades, Sony said.

Another new underline is a record dubbed “4D focus”, that a association says allows a new handsets’ cameras to close onto objects twice as fast as a Z5 phones.

However, Mr Garner was unimpressed.

“There’s been a feeling that unless Sony can come adult with a truly innovative, stand-out smartphone, there would be critical doubt outlines around a destiny of a company’s mobile business,” he said. “In a view, a new smartphones do not mangle poignant new ground.”

Image copyrightSony

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Sony has used an autofocus record creatively grown for a high-end Alpha cameras

Profits contra volume

Last quarter, a section reported a 24.1bn yen ($214m; £150m) distinction notwithstanding shipping 36% fewer handsets than during a same 3 months a year before.

The association pronounced relocating to a choice from that it done some-more income per device was behind a profit.

Image copyrightGetty Images

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Sony pronounced a smartphone multiplication returned to distinction in a final financial quarter

But Mr Fogg pronounced he was uncertain either a proceed was sustainable.

“We envision that shipments will continue to tumble in 2016 and 2017,” a researcher said. “Smartphones are a scale business – it’s routinely easier to be essential if we sell high volumes. So, a doubt is either Sony can stay essential if a sales tumble further.”